In 2013, an unconscious woman was gang-raped in a Vanderbilt dorm. Since then, three men have been convicted and sentenced. Another will have a hearing Monday.
Karen Grigsby, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Five years have passed since a group of football players raped a woman in a Vanderbilt University dorm room.

It took nearly that long for the legal cases against the men to wind through the court system.

Four trials ended with three of the men convicted of aggravated rape. The final defendant pleaded guilty just a few weeks ago, officially closing a pivotal chapter in the process that had been the subject of television specials and news articles.

It was a brutal experience, especially for the victim, who identified herself in pictures and video of the crime during testimony at every trial.

Clockwise from left: Brandon Vandenburg, Cory Batey, Brandon E. Banks and Jaborian "Tip" McKenzie were convicted in the June 23, 2013, rape of a woman in a Vanderbilt University dorm room.(Photo11: Submitted)

The case, and others like it, left onlookers — at Vanderbilt, in Nashville and around the world — to confront the truth.

Sexual violence was not an aberration. It was, unfortunately, an everyday occurrence. One that had lingered in the shadows for generations.

The case became a prominent prong of a national movement to overhaul training and prevention efforts on college campuses and elsewhere.

“It put the spotlight on sexual assaults on college campuses throughout the country,” said Metro police detective Chad Gish, who developed pivotal digital evidence in the case. “The Vanderbilt case, that kind of brought it to the forefront.”

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The Vanderbilt rape case "put the spotlight on sexual assaults on college campuses throughout the country,” said Metro police detective Chad Gish.(Photo11: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)

Experts in sexual assault and law enforcement drew a direct connection between the conversations and changes that followed and broader movements like #MeToo.

“These terrible things happen, and we've been intimately privy to the details through the Vanderbilt rape case," said Rachel Freeman, president of the Nashville Sexual Assault Center. “That has been really sad and really hard to hear.

"But once you were exposed to that case you couldn’t turn a blind eye."

Case's aftermath marked by changes at Vanderbilt, elsewhere

As the case rolled on, Vanderbilt made sweeping changes to its training and support networks for students and staff.

A free-standing center opened on campus that focused on providing training to prevent sexual violence and resources for victims.

Courses on bystander intervention, encouraging people to step in when they saw the warning signs, were woven into athletic programs and freshman orientation.

Students took on the cause, creating a special committee to tackle the problem of sexual violence. They pushed administrators to change the way cases were handled and to offer students more places to go for help.

Students also filed Title IX complaints that led to ongoing federal scrutiny of the university's handling of sexual assaults.

"With a case like this the conversation had to happen, and I think that changed the ways in which it was discussed," said Sara Starr, a recent Vanderbilt graduate who led the student-run committee. "It gave language to people who maybe didn't have the language to talk about these issues before."

Experts also linked the case with a spike in reports of sexual violence, which they said was a positive step forward because the vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported. But the arduous court process also highlighted one reason many victims choose not to come forward.

Starr said she hoped that future generations of students would continue to push for a more streamlined reporting process that would make it easier for victims, at least on campus.

One element of the June 23, 2013, case has continued to resonate with Metro police detective Jason Mayo, who had a leading role in the investigation. Several witnesses he interviewed saw suspicious behavior in the lead-up to the rape but did nothing to help the victim.

That should be the takeaway parents hammer home with their children, he said.

“Don’t turn a blind eye," he said. "There were too many people that saw something that night, but they didn’t do anything.

“If you see something that you know is not right, you have to step up and do something.”

“Don’t turn a blind eye. There were too many people that saw something that night, but they didn’t do anything. If you see something that you know’s not right, you have to step up and do something.”

Metro Nashville police Det. Jason Mayo

In the years after the Vanderbilt case, that message has become a rallying cry, with increased efforts from campus staff and advocates to prevent sexual assault.

At the Sexual Assault Center, staff members are working with employees at local bars to spot early warning signs. Freeman, the center's president, said that kind of work had grown out of the subtle culture shift made possible after the Vanderbilt rape case and other high-profile cases on and off campuses.

She was hopeful that the work at colleges, followed by #MeToo, which is confronting a wide range of violence and sexual assault in Hollywood, the media and beyond, provided an opportunity to pursue lasting change.

"That is what is empowering right now and encouraging to so many of us," Freeman said. “We’re going to take that momentum and say, ‘No more.’ ”